My Favorite Songs of All-Time, Part 2 (songs 65-31)

Here's part 2 of the list, covering songs 65-31. If you missed it, check out Part 1 here. Part 3 will feature the Top 30 and will be published next.

65. ABBA "Dancing Queen"

It's funny how bands like the Bee Gees and ABBA were made fun of for years, but their work is now appreciated. These days, if you don't like "Dancing Queen," you're pretty much a commie.

64. Berlin "Take My Breath Away"

This song killed Berlin's career since it pigeon-holed them into a genre in which they didn't belong. But it gave us a memorable song, so on balance the trade-off was worth it.

63. Lee Ann Womack "I Hope You Dance"

Amidst all the trite, cliched mainstream crap coming out of Nashville, "I Hope You Dance" stands the test of time. Its advice still rings true. I strongly prefer the country version of the song to the pop version, due to the presence of the Sons of the Desert’s background vocals.

62. Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse of the Heart"

Turn around, bright eyes! Between this and "Holding Out for a Hero," Bonnie Tyler had the market cornered on early '80s raspy-voiced melodrama.

61. The Outfield "Your Love"

Funny thing – I despised this song for years, because of the incredibly stupid chorus. "I just wanna use your love tonight / I don’t wanna lose your love tonight." Wtf is that supposed to mean? Can you think of any scenario in real life when any human being would ever utter those words? But eventually the catchy melody won me over. How can you change the channel when you hear the words, "Josie’s on a vacation far away…"

60. Simon & Garfunkel "The Sounds of Silence"

Harmony seems to be a lost art in pop music. Nobody did it better than Simon & Garfunkel on this track from The Graduate.

59. Falco "Rock Me Amadeus"

A 1986 rap-pop song by an Austrian musician in honor of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. You don't see songs this weird much anymore (White Town's "Your Woman" from 1997 might come closest.)

58. Belle Stars "Iko Iko"

Originally written in 1953 and titled "Jock-A-Mo," "Iko Iko" has been recorded by numerous artists over the years. The Dixie Cups version from 1965 is cool but the Belle Stars' 1988 tribalistic version from the Rain Man movie stands out for me.

57. Father MC "I'll Do 4 U"

I'm sure nobody remembers this single from 1991 with the cool sample from Cheryl Lynn’s "Got To Be Real." Father MC has a nice flow and there’s a bunch of memorable lines here, like the one about loving the black hummingbird. Interesting trivia I found out recently: That’s Mary J. Blige singing the chorus - it was her first appearance on record ever.

56. Heart "These Dreams"

The second Heart song on the countdown. I guess for some reason as a kid in elementary school I was infatuated with these ladies. This one is more sunny than "Alone" and it's the first time Nancy Wilson sang lead.

55. Ani DiFranco "Untouchable Face"

To this day I've only heard a handful of Ani songs but they're all terrific. “Untouchable Face” tells the gutwrenching but relatable story of being infatuated with someone who’s already in a relationship (“I could make you happy, if you weren’t already.”). The line “You look like a photograph of yourself” is one of my favorite lyrics of all-time.

54. Madonna "Like a Prayer"

The religious imagery, the taboo music video interracial kiss and the glorious, uplifting choir make this the best song of Madonna's career.

53. Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories "Stay (I Missed You)"

The bespectacled Lisa became the first unsigned artist ever to score a #1 hit when her first single hit the top.

52. Michael Jackson "Beat It"

Like all kids from the '80s, I was a crazy MJ fan. I had the action figure with the "Beat It" jacket. This is his only song in my Top 100, though "Dirty Diana," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "Human Nature" and "Man in the Mirror" all rank highly.

51. Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"

This song singlehandedly makes me want to learn to play drums. Phil says he's aware this drum section may be his enduring legacy, and he's cool with that. Good for him.

50. Biz Markie "Just a Friend"

The worst singing ever in a hit song. Today, Biz would get kicked off American Idol before he finished singing the first line. But in 1989, his rant against girls "who say they just have a friend" was huge. I love the names of his friends - Agnes, Agatha, Jermaine and Jack. Biz is a comedic king.

49. Bright Eyes "First Day Of My Life"

I've always loved Conor Oberst's quivering voice. This acoustic track is one of the greatest love ballads I've ever heard, with the thought-provoking lyric, "I'd rather be working for a paycheck than waiting to win the lottery." The simple music video directed by John Cameron Mitchell is also genius.

48. Sophie B. Hawkins "Before I Walk On Fire"

Loaded with exotic rhythms and sexually-charged words, Sophie's debut Tongues and Tails remains my favorite album of all-time. "Before I Walk on Fire" is even more powerful when performed live.

47. Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Not much needs to be said about this one. It's simply one of the most influential songs in history. I remember when this song first came out in December 1991, my family went shopping at K-Mart and I sat in the car listening to B94 because they said this song was coming up. Hearing the groundbreaking new Nirvana song was way more important than picking out Christmas presents.

46. Shannon "Let the Music Play"

Only on my personal list could long-forgotten dance singer Shannon edge outrank Nirvana. I dare say "Let the Music Play" is one of the best dance tracks ever written.

45. Prince "Little Red Corvette"

1999 was one of the first 33s I ever owned. This slow-burner had some clever lines, though it wasn't until years later that I understood what "She had a pocket full of horses / Trojan and some of them used" and "I felt a little ill when I saw all the pictures of the jockeys who were there before me" meant.

44. Chumbawamba "Tubthumping"

Like millions of duped Americans, I bought Tubthumper, the album by British anarchists Chumbawamba, only to discover it was the worst album I'd ever purchased. But the single remains a sing-along classic. Appropriately, this song was actually playing my first time in a bar after turning 21.

43. Don McLean "American Pie"

"American Pie" goes back to my four awesome summers as a camp counselor. This was one of the last songs they'd play at every camp function so it became special. So while to most people the song calls to mind a terrible plane crash, it reminds me of hay rides, summer hikes and good times.

42. Aerosmith "Angel"

Of all the Aerosmith songs, why this one? I'm not sure, except that I enjoy Steven Tyler's flexible vocals and the closing harmony.

41. The Who "Baba O'Riley"

Best song intro ever? The swimming keyboards are a great way to build anticipation as you wait for the guitar & drums to kick in.

40. Boy Meets Girl "Waiting for a Star to Fall"

Boy Meets Girl were the songwriting team of Merrill and Rubicam, who penned tons of '80s hits. Fortunately, Whitney Houston turned down "Waiting for a Star to Fall," allowing them to record it themselves. I can't imagine it sounding this joyous and innocent if Whitney had taken it. And that sax solo is rockin'.

39. Air Supply "Making Love Out of Nothing at All"

Another epic Jim Steinman song. Everyone loves the irony of this soft-pop band singing the line, "I can make all the stadiums rock!," but, secretly, I'd kill to see them in concert. They are my ultimate guilty pleasure.

38. Michael Penn "No Myth"

Michael Penn was the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah of the pre-internet era. "No Myth" made him huge thanks to its lines about being Romeo in black jeans. He won the MTV award for Best New Artist and was massively hyped by critics. Then he failed to record another hit, ever. Now he's mostly known for being the brother of Sean Penn and wife of Aimee Mann.

37. Cameo "Word Up"

Thank you, Cameo, for performing the quintessential funk track and for sporting the unforgettable red cod piece.

36. Janet Jackson "Again"

This was our high school prom theme. I'm still not sure why. But every time the lovely ballad comes on, I get to revisit that part of my life for three minutes.

35. Sergio Mendes "Never Gonna Let You Go"

Well, this one is embarrassing. "Never Gonna Let You Go" is a pretty spectacularly awful adult contemporary song. But I liked the voices of the guy and the girl - neither of whom is actually Sergio Mendes, I later learned.

34. Meat Loaf "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"

Like most of the public, I had no idea just what it was that Meat Loaf wouldn't do for love. He explained in an interview that the answer is different each time he sings it, because each line references the previous line, as in, "I'll never forget the way you feel right now / I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that." Mystery solved.

33. Timex Social Club "Rumors"

I don't even know how this song got on my radar as a 9-year-old. I think Hot FM 101 in Youngstown used to play it a lot. That's one of the benefits of growing up in Beaver County - we had another top 40 station to rival B94. Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that Timex Social Club was composed of the same people as Club Nouveau, who had the #1 remake "Lean on Me."

32. Guns N Roses "Paradise City"

One of the first hard rock songs I really loved. I remember being a little freaked out by the skulls on the cover of the record when I purchased it from National Record Mart.

31. Shakespear's Sister "Stay"

What still strikes me about "Stay" is how unique it sounds. There wasn't another song in 1992 that sounded even remotely like this.

Check out the Final part, Songs 30-1.

My Favorite 100 Songs of All-Time

After several weeks of brainstorming and calculating, I'm finally ready to unveil my Favorite 100 songs of All-Time list. This is not the list of a typical music blogger. It’s the list of someone who grew up religiously listening to Casey Kasem's weekly Top 40 countdown and who unabashedly loves cheesy '80s love ballads.

I'm not joking - Bette Midler's "The Rose" is on the list. If that kind of thing scares you, now would be a good time to click away to another page.

I readily admit this is a ridiculous collection of songs, but it's cool, I've always had eclectic taste. Sixty two of these songs are from the '80s and another 23 are from the '90s, leaving just 3 from the '60s and 6 each from the '70s and '00s.

Most of my favorite bands didn't even make it. Instead there's a lot of forgotten one-hit wonders. So while Radiohead, the Dresden Dolls, Sigur Ros and Matt & Kim failed to make the cut, I managed to find room for the likes of Father MC, Nu Shooz, Kris Kross, Chumbawamba, Michael Penn and Oleta Adams.

Only a few artists placed multiple tracks on the list: Prince and Phil Collins lead with three each, while Madonna, Guns N Roses, Journey, Heart, Meat Loaf notched two apiece. Siobhan Fahey makes two appearances with different bands (Bananarama/Shakespear's Sister.) In terms of songwriters, Jim Steinman placed four in the top 100 – gotta love those melodramatic rock ballads!

I was going to include audio clips for these songs, but that would've taken too long. And yinz know how to use YouTube. So I've provided the single artwork instead. Because I enjoy single artwork…

PART 1: SONGS 100-66

100. blink-182 "Dammit (Growing Up)"

"Dammit" is just a fun, catchy song that grabs me from the intro guitar riff. I like the bitter kiss-off lyrics to an ex ("When he's gone, I won't come back!").

99. Baltimora "Tarzan Boy"

Italian band Baltimora became a huge one-hit wonder with "Tarzan Boy," a song that somehow made a resurgence in the ‘90s in Listerine commercials. I still have it on 45.

98. Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes"

My first childhood crush was Kim Carnes, owner of the long blond hair and gravelly voice. I'm pretty sure as a narrative tale, "Bette Davis Eyes" doesn't make any sense, but for several of my early years it was one of my favorite songs.

97. Naughty by Nature "O.P.P."

Arm me with harmony! Naughty by Nature were using Michael Jackson samples nearly 20 years before Kanye had the idea.

96. Bananarama "Cruel Summer"

Is that really a xylophone in there? We need more songs with xylophones!

95. Tears for Fears "Shout"

I have a vivid memory of seeing this video for the first time on MTV one morning, then going to school and having the song stuck in my head all day. I raced home to turn on MTV again in the hopes I'd hear it again because in the course of one school day I had become obsessed.

94. Jimmy Eat World "A Praise Chorus"

I love that Jimmy Eat World make angsty emo music for adults. "Even at 25, you gotta start sometime!" "A Praise Chorus" provides inspiration for those still trying to find their place in the world during their 20s.

93. Counting Crows "A Long December"

A song about finding optimism through depression. "Man, it's been so long since I've seen the ocean... I guess I should." This was back when Adam Duritz was still relevant.

92. Beck "Loser"

Shave your face with some mace in the dark! I'm a driver! I'm a winner! Things are gonna change, I can feel it! Get crazy with the Cheez Whiz!

91. Naked Eyes "Always Something There to Remind Me"

Another fun '80s pop song. The lines about the small cafe always paint such a vivid picture in my head.

90. Human League "Don't You Want Me"

The Human League were a bunch of freaks. Such vicious lyrics in this synthpop classic. "Don't forget it's me who put you where you are now, and I can put you back down too!"

89. MGMT "Electric Feel"

The most perfect pop song of the last 10 years, perhaps. I'm still not sick of it, no matter how often I hear it.

88. Dixie Chicks "Cowboy Take Me Away"

This track seems to have gotten overshadowed by other songs about murdering abusive husbands with poisoned black eyed peas, but it's the Chicks' most beautiful effort. The final minute of this song - an instrumental section built around slide guitar and banjo - is my favorite minute of country music of all-time. I used to get so furious when country radio stations would cut that part off.

87. Bobby Brown "Roni"

I have no explanation for why I like this song so much. Something about that emotional bridge just gets me: "She’ll make the toughest homeboy fall deep in love / Said once you’ve had a Roni you can never give her up!" Brown's entire Don't Be Cruel album is massively underrated - look it up.

86. Roxette "Listen to Your Heart"

Some songs have bizarre associations in my head. This one reminds me of Mrs. McCann's middle school art class, because she would play B94 in class, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. This song came on during one such class, and now every time I hear it I'm back at that wooden desk drawing something.

85. Guns N Roses "Patience"

One of the best acoustic rock songs ever written and one that grabbed me during the middle school years.

84. Kris Kross "Jump"

During the height of this song's popularity, David Spade mentioned the boys on his Hollywood Minute segment on SNL: "Kris Kross - guess what guys? It's a short ride, save some money." Hopefully they took his advice.

83. Bette Midler "The Rose"

Oh hell yes! Songs don’t get much cheesier than this. But it's such a great shower karaoke song, with its rising and falling vocal melodies and climactic verses where she harmonizes with herself.

82. Bad English "When I See You Smile"

Some songs are so sappy and sweet that I just can't bring myself to hate them. Here's Exhibit A. I love watching the music video and seeing John Waite's horrifically big hair.

81. Jay Brannan "Can't Have it All"

A simple song that describes the difficulties in finding love these days. "Fuck this, this can't be my life," Brannan sings in his angelic voice. Most of us can relate.

80. Prince "Erotic City"

Maybe my favorite B-side in history! Released as the flip side to "Let’s Go Crazy," "Erotic City" reveals Prince at his risqué best. "We can fuck until the dawn," Prince and Sheila E. sang, though my 7-year-old ears didn't even notice the F-word. This is one of only six tracks in my top 100 that was never released as a single.

79. Beatles "All You Need is Love"

It's hard to choose a favorite Beatles song but this one has always stood out for me. It provides a great, wholesome message, and contains one of my favorite song-within-a-song references when John Lennon throws in the "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah" at the end. Also, I love weird time signatures, and 7/4 fits the bill.

78. Oleta Adams "Get Here"

If your only memory of this song was when Justin Guarini massacred it during the first season of American Idol, please do hunt down the original. Oleta Adams has one of the richest voices on the planet.

77. Phil Collins "A Groovy Kind of Love"

My favorite love songs are the most basic and simple ones. It doesn’t get much simpler than, “When I’m feeling blue / All I have to do / Is take a look at you / Then I’m not so blue.” The lyrics are totally sweet and lovey-dovey.

76. Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait"

How is it possible no rapper has yet sampled the brilliant synths on this song? That's a smash hit waiting to happen. "I Can't Wait" actually earned Nu Shooz a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

75. Heart "Alone"

One of the great power ballads from the era of power ballads. I can nail a perfect score on this on expert level on Playstation Karaoke Revolution.

74. Meat Loaf "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are"

Bat Out of Hell II will always be one of my favorite albums – certain associations remind me of people and events from high school. Jim Steinman’s epic ballads always evoke a comfortable sense of nostalgia, and that's the case with this 12-minute track.

73. Eurythmics "Here Comes the Rain Again"

"Here Comes the Rain Again" has always resonated with me more than "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," possibly because it's not as overplayed.

72. Steve Winwood "Higher Love"

Love the percussion intro, love the use of brass instrumentation, love Chaka Khan's background vocals. And I just learned that Whitney Houston recorded this song two years after Winwood - thank you, Wikipedia.

71. George Michael & Aretha Franklin "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)"

I started liking this song a lot more when I imagined doing a karaoke duet of it with me singing the Aretha part. That hasn't happened yet, but hopefully soon.

70. Madonna "Borderline"

One of Madonna's earliest hits is still one of my favorites. That twinkling piano/keyboard intro gets me every time.

69. Sly Fox "Let's Go All the Way"

I used to think this song was badass. And then I saw the embarrassing music video. Oh well. It was the '80s.

68. Mr. Mister "Broken Wings"

This was one of the first videos I remember seeing in heavy rotation after we got MTV. I still love Richard Page's vocal on the track.

67. Force MDs "Tender Love"

I thought maybe I was alone in adoring this long-lost 1985 soul hit written by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, but Alicia Keys recently called it one of her favorites and performed a fantastic remake. And look at that album cover - they're all wearing fur! I love the 80s.

66. Smashing Pumpkins "Disarm"

I've never been a Bill Corgan fan but I like his voice on this one as it switches to falsetto and back with nearly every other line.

Continue to Part 2: Songs 65-31

New Girl Talk album free download!

Girl Talk's All Day is officially available right now via his website for free - no donation or any kind of strings attached.

I'm writing this before I've had a chance to check it out so I have no review to post yet, except to say I can't wait to hear it since his last two albums have been two of my favorite records of the 2000s.

New fake Michael Jackson song: What in God's name is Sony thinking?

The long-awaited new single from Michael Jackson arrived today, and it resulted in pretty much the worst possible outcome: The song sucks, and it's NOT EVEN MICHAEL JACKSON SINGING.

Sony is sticking by its claims that the song is all MJ, but several of Michael's family members - his nephews, mother and children - all say the main vocal on the track "Breaking News" isn't Michael's. I don't think it is, either. Hardcore MJ fans believe the voice on the record of that of MJ imposter Jason Malachi.

Even worse is the news that family members claim that as many as 4 or 5 of the songs on Michael's forthcoming album contain fake vocals.

You can hear the track here on the Sony site. Note all of the comments beneath the video from outraged fans who are convinced the track is fake.

What a clusterfuck. The people at Sony must be out of their minds to think that releasing sub-par, faked Michael Jackson material was a good idea.